New Bern made the news last year when a Burmese refugee hacked to death three little boys. See our post here. (So much for “robust” screening!). Be sure to see that post because at that time we looked up some financial information on Interfaith Refugee Ministry and it is posted there.

Also, the county’s US Congressman (Rep. Walter Jones) has been one of the leaders on The Hill in trying to rein-in the refugee program, see here.

I wanted to see exactly how many refugees New Bern was getting so checked the US State Department data base, here. Because of a lack of time, I didn’t look up any other towns that might be in Craven County.

These are the numbers for those being resettled in New Bern from January 1, 2009 until January 1, 2016 (Obama’s term so far). The whole state of North Carolina admitted 16,261 (I believe NC is in the top ten resettlement states in the nation, but did not check that for this post). The numbers below do not take into consideration those who might have come as secondary migrants to New Bern, or those who have left (refugees can leave right away if they want and no one pays any attention to where they go).

Nationality and number:

Burma (1,087)

Colombia (20)

Cuba (20)

DR Congo (3)

Vietnam (44)

Iraq (52)

Somalia (2)

Syria (3)

Commissioners should add Burma to their list!

When you check the county commissioners’ proposed resolution, here, note that Burma is not on the list of countries of concern, but it should be! We have admitted over 13,000 Rohingya Muslims from Burma to the US since 9/11, go here.

The US State Department has been mixing them in with the mostly Burmese Christians for resettlement and it has caused problems in several communities in the US.

5 Responses to “North Carolina: Craven County considering resolution to block some refugees from the county”

annsaid

Ann, This agency actually places refugees in 4 other counties. Onslow Co,(Jacksonville) Pitt Co, (Greenville) Carteret co,(Morehead City)Lenoir co, (Kinston). So these other counties should get on board to do the same thing that we did. There is a huge backlash over this whole resolution that is not passed yet.